Edinburgh Napier University

  The aim of this study was to explore the impact of ongoing welfare changes on a range of working age households in Scotland. The study consisted of four interview sweeps over a three year period (2013-16).


Interviews in Sweep 4 sought to establish any changes in participants’ circumstances since the previous sweep. Participants were also asked to reflect on how their situation had changed since the first interview around three years earlier, and on how they felt benefits issues could be handled differently in the future.


The policy implications of the findings from Sweep 4 and across the study are grouped together under two main headings: mitigating actions that the Scottish Government could take to reduce the impact of welfare reforms that sit outside its jurisdiction; and issues to consider in the design and implementation of new devolved benefits.